Jenson Button offers Red Bull blunt advice over F1 car woes

Jenson Button has stated how Red Bull needs to "build a faster car" to remedy the Milton Keynes-based squad's torrid start to the F1 campaign.

The RB22 impressed during F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain, with the strength of the team's fledgling power unit catching the attention of the paddock.

In partnership with Ford, the six-time constructors' champion is embarking on its first year as a power unit manufacturer.

However, despite some reliability issues, which have forced both Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen to retire from one round apiece, the chassis appears to be the bigger problem.

After fighting McLaren to be third-best in Melbourne, Red Bull endured a disastrous Chinese Grand Prix, falling behind the Haas of Oliver Bearman and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly.

When asked what the team must do to turn things around, Button told Sky Sports F1: "Build a faster car? That's basically it.

"They're still all understanding the regulations, and they're still fine-tuning the cars... We're going to see a lot of upgrades coming this year, more than normal, but also within the team, I think there's always space for improvement... It's understanding what you have, what tools you have at your disposal and maximising that."

Karun Chandhok, who was alongside Button, added: "For Max and Red Bull, there was so much talk about them being a new powertrain manufacturer, a new powertrain supplier.

"But actually, the chassis side seems to be struggling a little bit. I don't think they've got the car balance underneath them. And Shanghai illustrated that; they just suffered with aero performance..."

Whilst Verstappen and team principal Laurent Mekies estimated the RB22's pace deficit was a 50/50 split in Melbourne, that does not seem to still be the case, according to Button.

"You'd actually say that their power unit is more impressive — start from nothing and build a power unit that's that competitive," the 2009 F1 drivers' champion added. "It's probably performed better than what the car has."

Chandhok highlighted how far the project has come, having been just five desks in a portacabin only four years ago, commenting on how "super impressive" it has been for Red Bull to build RBPT (Red Bull Powertrains) from nothing.

Nonetheless, he feels there is considerable work to be done on the chassis. He said: "They're not that far off, I don't think, in terms of power unit side, but as a package, they do need to move forward."